When you're a hero, you do it for humility and because it's the right thing to do, not for the rewards or to boost your ego.
When Peter saves a young girl from certain serious injury or worse after a toy store shelf nearly topples on top of her, things indeed start out that way – that he thinks more of preventing harm than himself. But by the end of the episode, Peter – thinking he's not gotten duly honored for his heroic actions – has gotten an ego that's run so wild and big that he's alienated most of his friends and his family. In the end, Peter learns indeed what it's like to be ... "The Hero."
While Peter is at Driscoll's Toy and Hobby Store shopping for a model airplane, a 5-year-old girl sees a Kitty Karry-All doll on a high shelf. Impatient and not realizing she needs to ask her mother for help (and in turn, ask one of Mr. Driscoll's assistants for help), the girl begins to climb the shelf herself. Bad decision, as the wall begins to shift and the shelf's integrity – perhaps already bad – gives way as the anchors no longer hold to the crumbling wall. Peter sees what is about to happen and in the nick of time, grabs the little girl. The shelf and part of the wall collapses to the floor, but the little girl is safe.
The grateful mother thanks Peter, then calls the newspaper to report the heroic deed. It isn't long before Peter finds himself on the front page, as the focus of the whole incident. This is just the start of Peter growing an ego that grows to a mammoth size. When he is honored as "Hero of the Week" and wins $50, he decides to blow the whole thing on a party, to honor himself! He makes sure his friends and family never forget what he's done, and it isn't long before Mike and Carol take him aside and remind him that in life, the hard, cruel fact is that – in essence, Andy Warhol had it right: people are sometimes famous for 15 minutes and no longer. Peter is humbled and his self-esteem is lower than ever, but soon, there is a little surprise celebration to perk Peter's spirits up.
In the end, Peter's humility wins out and would remain a character trait of his throughout the rest of the series' run and all of the revivals.
Tropes present in this episode:
- 15 Minutes of Fame: Which is what Peter realizes he is going through after his friends and family begin forgetting about his act of heroism.
- Just in Time: Peter saving the little girl's life an instant before the shelf topples to the ground.
- No Time to Think: Peter acts on instinct to save the little girl from being crushed to death – and Driscoll from a sure lawsuit.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Peter's head swells after seeing his name in the newspaper's "Hero of the Week" featurette, and begins a campaign to make sure nobody forgets who he is.
- Worst News Judgement Ever: While some newspapers indeed have featurettes such as "Hero of the Week" (as seen in the Bradys' newspaper), nowhere is there a story about the accident itself or the suggestion that the building housing Driscoll's Toy and Hobby Shop needed repairs and so forth. But then again, the real focus is on Peter's ego, not whether Driscoll knew that the shelves and walls may have been structurally unsound.
